Akelarre

August 2, 2011

Akelarre

This was a great lunch. Amazing food, great service. And what a view! Very modern food, but not too molecular, just the right amount of twists and technique. And very tasty, which is what matters most. It wasn’t as mind blowing as Mugaritz, which has really become a benchmark for me, but the whole package was great and it’s definitely a place to check out if you want superb food AND the rest to be close to perfect. Get ready for the longest dish descriptions ever!

Amenities: Tomato and Basil Gel / Sponge: take the Onion sponge and put Tomato Gel on it! / Sea Bath Salts: directly to the mouth! / Idiazabal cheese Moisturizer / Mouthwash Cocktail

Xangurro in Essence, its Coral Blini and “Gurullos” / The crustacean’s meat is reinforced by its juice. Accompany with the pasta that looks like rice grains.

Razor Shell with Veal Shank / Combine Razor shell with veal and cauliflower mushroom. Textures, flavors, contrasts…

Sauteed Fresh Foie Gras with “Salt Flakes and Grain Pepper” / Sauteed Foie Gras with a lot of “Salt’n Pepper”

Fresh White Beans Mosaic Salad / White Beans from Sanguesa, dressed over fine sheets of flavoured sponge cakes … with colour.

Turbot with its “Kokotxa” / The preparation is made entirely with Turbot, including its “kokotxa”. Pil-Pil sauce. A crispy chip of its own skin.

Roasted Suckling Pig, with Tomato “Bolao” and Iberian Emulsion / To get a crispy and juicy texture, the baby pig is cooked in Iberian broth and finished in the oven. Start with the baby pig with tomato “bolao”; continue with another bit of the Iberico emulsion. Finishing tasting all together. Tomato “Bolao”. Iberico emulsion.

Milk and Grape, Cheese and Wine in Parallel Evolution / Grapevine, curded sheep milk and walnut. Powdered fresh cream with chive and grapes. Quark cheese with nutmeg and pink pepper aroma, must of tapioca and tomato. -Idiazabal semi-matured with quince jelly and wine dust. -Torta of Casar’s grape with soaked raisins in Pedro Ximenez. -Brandy sirop with Gorgonzola cheese ice cream. Start from the left to the right to recognize each and every of the different flavours that the milk has, as well as the transformations that the grape and milk suffers from the origin up to the oldness.

Jerte Cherries and Apricot, in Kirsch, Vanilla Stones / We took the seed out and filled them with the cherries’ cream and Kirsch. The apricot is the other fruit that opens the season. It’s a puree in the bottom. And the stones… we made them with fantasy.

A Different Apple Tart / Puff pastry toasted-apple cream-puff pastry praline-and our house made eatable apple paper. The traditional apple tart is very good, but we have made a new one. Our apple tart does not have fresh apples but tastes much more than others.